


The Joy Of The Nibelungs

by SwanFloatieKnight



Category: Nibelungenlied
Genre: Abduction, Action/Adventure, Attempt at Humor, Background Relationships, F/F, Knights - Freeform, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Queer Gen, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:55:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26275255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwanFloatieKnight/pseuds/SwanFloatieKnight
Summary: When her councellors tell Brunhilt to finally find a suitable ruler to marry she makes a very quick decision.
Relationships: Brünhild/Kriemhild (Nibelungenlied), Siegfried/Hagen von Tronje
Comments: 6
Kudos: 8





	The Joy Of The Nibelungs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FervidAsAFlame](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FervidAsAFlame/gifts), [rialtoir](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rialtoir/gifts), [Writing_Fangirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writing_Fangirl/gifts).



> Finally! The Nibelungenlied fic that I have wanted to write for four semesters now!!! 
> 
> I actually wrote this as a legit uni exam about heroic poetry and had to fit in different characteristics of medieval heroic stories xD luckily, my lecturer is the very very best and enjoyed my lesbian Nibelungenlied fic very much apparently xD  
> [this is only a translation of my original story that I did very quickly at night in like 3h, forgive me if there are any mistakes.]
> 
> Thanks to the people I gifted this to for beta reading it for me! <3

A/N: I posted this fic on Ao3, and on Ao3 alone. If you read this on any other website or platform, please consider that I did not consent to this.

* * *

Actually Brunhilt had already been about to close the council meeting, but her councillors held her back. “My Queen, excuse us, but there still is the problem about marriage…”

“The problem about marriage?”

“Well, you’re still not married. As a queen you should think about the future, and the kingdom. You should consider marrying soon.”

Brunhilt had to admit that her councilmen weren’t too wrong. Considering the needs of her country it really would be good if she married soon. “And who do you suggest?”

Her councillors must have given some thoughts to this already, because they nearly jumped up from their seats.

“Of course it has to be a powerful ruler who is adequate to you.”

“It wouldn’t do for you to marry some low-ranking duke.”

“No, definitely not. So we have carefully considered this already. Brabant would have been another option, of course, or Baiern, but…”

Brunhilt sighed. “Spit it out. Who did you think of?”

“Gunther, the king of Worms.”

“Worms would be a good match, we already have excellent diplomatic connections. Or don’t you write letters with Kriemhilt anymore?”

“Gunther.” Brunhilt looked at her councillors, thinking about the suggestion. “From Worms…” It was not the kind of partner she would have thought of. But Worms, and especially the mention of her pen pal Kriemhilt had given her an idea. A plan started to form inside her head. She looked at her councilmen. “All right, I will go there.”

It was the fourteenth morning after she left Isenstein when finally Brunhilt saw the city walls of Worms gleaming in the first morning light. Her GPS might have predicted her to take twelve days originally, but then she had missed the turn right into the Rhine and had taken a detour which had taken her two entire days. But now she was here. Now she would follow through with her plan and nothing would be able to stop her.

In the castle at Worms her arrival was eyed by the three kings Gunther, Gernot and Giselher. Not every day a strange knight showed up in their courtyard in full armour, and if it happened it usually meant trouble. Gunther still remembered the last time when Siegfried had arrived here. At least this knight was on his own.

Hagen who had kept quietly in the background until now noticed his kings’ unease. He stepped up to the window next to them and intently looked at the arriving knight. “Oh dear, that means trouble.”

Gunther looked at him doubtfully. “Please, enlighten us.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s Brunhilt.”

“Brunhilt?”

“I mean, I have never seen her before, but I wouldn’t know who else that could be. Look at her armour and her coat of arms. The bear and the swan shall remind her of the animals that raised her.”

“She was raised by bears and swans?” Giselher asked curiously.

Hagen nodded. “After her father didn’t care for her and threw her out.”

“He did – what? Why this?” This time it was Gunther asking.

“Everything I know Siegfried told me, but legend has it that her father, King Liutbrun of Isenstein, didn’t find a suitable wife and finally called upon the Ancient Gods because he needed an heir. A goddess of war finally listened to his prayers and slept with him, and her only condition was apparently that he took care of the child. Long story short, nine months later the child was brought to Isenstein by a golden swan, and unfortunately it was a girl. Liutbrun felt betrayed by the goddess because he had wanted an heir, and that’s why he abandoned her. The swan first cared for her and when she grew up it brought her to a bear. Later she became the queen of Isenstein when she conquered it with fifteen or sixteen. Liutbrun must have looked pretty stupid when he met his own daughter again I’m sure. But you have to ask Siegfried if you want more details. I think the two know each other better.”

Gunther nodded, lost in thoughts. “Then we should probably find out what she even wants here.”

He didn’t have to wait long for an answer though, because Brunhilt called up from downstairs: “King Gunther! I hope you have a sword ready that isn’t too rusty, and your spirits are as fresh and agile as they have been five years ago. Because as true as I’m standing here I challenge you to fight me!”

“Excuse me, what?” Gunther leaned out of the window, visibly confused, and called back: “And why, if I may ask?”

The queen of Isenstein resolutely tied up her helmet. “I have come to woo your sister!”

“Kriemhilt?”

“How many sisters do you have?” Brunhilt rolled her eyes. “Of course Kriemhilt. And if I’m not completely mistaken she even expects me.”

“She expects you? Why should she?”

“Because I wrote her of my coming and that I would woo her.” Brunhilt sighed. Apparently the three kings didn’t even know that their sister and she had been pen pals for years and had even been having some kind of long distance relationship over the last few months. While Brunhilt had been interested in the thought of trying out Kriemhilt’s courtly life herself, Kriemhilt had been fascinated by Brunhilt’s knightly adventures. Even if they had only written each other so far they had fallen in love with one another. Opposites did attract each other, after all. And when Brunhilt’s council insisted on her marrying someone from Worms, why should she not marry the one member of the royal family that she was actually in love with? She looked up to Gunther. “What now? Are we gonna fight? Or are you really such a loser as Kriemhilt has written in her letters?”

“Kriemhilt has written _what_ exactly?” Gunther furiously turned to Hagen again. “But that’s not true, is it? Am I a loser?” Before Hagen could answer him though he had already turned back to the queen in the courtyard. “I will come down! And then we will settle this matter! What even gives you the right to speak to me that way?”

“Eh, I would have advised you against this.” Hagen looked to the ground. “You cannot win this fight. You basically cannot even wound Brunhilt. Her mother has gifted her armour that cannot be pierced by any mortal blade.”

“What? Why did you not tell me about this before?” Gunther stared at Hagen in shock.

At the same time Brunhilt’s voice could he heard again: “The right? I am engaged with your sister! And I have more knightly deeds and valour to show for myself than your entire court. If anyone has the right then it’s me!”

“What on earth is she now talking about?”

Hagen took pity on Gunther now who looked so obviously desperate, but at the same time he couldn’t help but blame him himself for his misery. If his king only would listen to him once… “Not only her armour is unnatural, her sword is, too. She herself went down into the underworld and there won it in combat from the goddesses of fate themselves. She also was it who helped Siegfried to slay the dragon. I told you, the two of them know each other. Trust me, this is no fight you can win.”

“What now?” Brunhilt called again.

“Yeah, what now? What do I do?” Gunther looked at Hagen.

Hagen considered their situation for a moment and then suggested: “Why don’t you ask her if she wants to postpone the fight for tomorrow. Until then everything should be settled, and if not it leaves me enough time to talk to Siegfried. Maybe the two of us can come up with something.”

So they invited Brunhilt for lunch and she even stayed for dinner out of politeness. Gunther even had hope to escape that unlucky fight by then. That Brunhilt really got along nicely with his sister didn’t bother him overly much. He didn’t really believe her when she said that she wanted to marry Kriemhilt, after all.

The bigger was his surprise when on the next morning he found both Kriemhilt and Brunhilt’s room empty. There was no trace of either of them, only a watchman reported that he had seen Kriemhilt leaving the castle walking down to the Rhine with a maid that he had never seen before. They hadn’t returned, and when Gunther, Gernot and Giselher also discovered that Brunhilt’s boat was gone they soon had a suspicion of who might be behind that unknown maid. Gunther was raging, and even if yesterday he had tried his best to escape a fight with Brunhilt, he could not just take such an embarrassment onto himself.

“Now she has abducted our sister! This is a thing unheard of!” Gunther angrily stormed into the throne room where Hagen was already waiting for him. “Why even our sister? I mean… two women?”

Hagen only shook his head. “Pull that stick out of your ass. When Siegfried and I got married three years ago nobody was bothered by this either. Let your sister be in peace when she is happy with Brunhilt. There must be a reason why she has turned down all the other knights for years.”

“But Brunhilt has abducted her! How does our realm look now when it becomes public that you can just abduct our sister as simple as that?”

Now Hagen had to admit that Gunther did have a point. Brunhilt, who smuggled Kriemhilt out of the castle at night didn’t really demonstrate Burgund’s most glorious site, no matter how voluntarily or involuntarily Kriemhilt had followed her. “And what are you going to do about it now?”

“Get her back, what else?” Gunther looked so stubborn that Hagen had to bite back a laugh.

“How exactly do you imagine this to work?”

“This… is a very good question.” Suddenly discouraged Gunther slumped down onto his throne. “But I’m sure we will think of something.”

So while Kriemhilt was with Brunhilt on their honeymoon to Isenstein her brothers, especially Gunther, were trying to find a way to get her back as quickly and discreetly as possible. Gunther’s idea that Hagen could just ask his husband and Siegfried could sneak into Isenstein with his magical helmet was quickly discarded when Hagen assured him that Siegfried would never be in on that plan. “He would never dare to offend Brunhilt. And even if he would, in this case I fear he is rather on her side than on ours.”

“Great. Do I really have to do everything on my own?”

“Well, just leave her then. Write a letter to Kriemhilt that she can visit us with her wife if she wants to. Then you don’t have to start a war with Isenstein,” Hagen suggested. But of course Gunther didn’t listen to him.

The idea of freeing Kriemhilt was not to be talked out of his head. Because he could not come up with a better plan he set sails on his own a week later and followed Kriemhilt and Brunhilt. Finding Isenstein wasn’t too hard if you knew where it was. Gunther’s problem now was that he did not know this. Siegfried had refused to give him the directions and now he was dependant on a map that was probably as old as the fundaments of the castle in Worms. In any case it was inaccurate and definitely not up to date, and so it was no wonder that he got lost several times.

He himself couldn’t be too sure how in the end he had eventually reached Isenstein, but he was admittedly proud that he had found it without asking for the way. The rest was up to his own strategic genius. Carefully Gunther steered the boat around Isenstein, avoided the harbour and finally went to land in a small bay that was not too far away from Brunhilt’s castle but hard to spot. From here he would be able to leave the island without any problems, and hopefully with his sister.

He approached the castle carefully and looked for ways in, but of course the castle was heavily guarded and the walls were much too high to climb them without a ladder. And so in the end he was admittedly quite proud of himself when after a short while of thinking he came up with a truly glorious plan.

Gunther walked to the castle gate and knocked. He pretended to be a brother of the queen who urgently needed to talk to his sister and really one of the watchmen left to fetch Kriemhilt. Gunther waited for her in a safe distance.

Kriemhilt was angry when she came to the gate. “Gunther! What the hell are you doing there? What were you even thinking?!”

“I’m taking you back home! How can you just run off with this strange queen?”

“She is no stranger! We have been writing letters for years! She knows me even better than you do! And I will certainly not come back to Worms with you!”

“Oh, I think you will.” Gunther raised his eyebrows. “Do you come with me voluntarily or do I have to take you with me by force?”

“By force? You just go ahead and try it! I will scream loud enough for Brunhilt to hear me!”

“Go ahead, then.” Gunther grabbed his sister’s arm and dragged her along with him, first along the road, but soon he turned into the forest. “Nobody will hear you out here anyways.”

Unfortunately Kriemhilt had to admit that he was right. So she followed him without any fuss to the small bay where his boat was waiting, went aboard with him and let him drive her to Worms without any further resistance. “Brunhilt will take her revenge,” she warned him before she started pouting and didn’t speak another word for the rest of their journey. Not even the fact that this time Gunther found the way without any detours could cheer her up.

Back in Worms the mood didn’t really get lighter. Kriemhilt locked herself up in her room, cried all day and wrote letters. Hagen was in a bad mood in every council meeting. Even Siegfried didn’t speak a word with him anymore. Only Gunther was happy with himself, or at least pretended to be. He had brought back his sister and restored his realm’s good reputation. And that was what a good king did, right? On the inside though he admittedly felt bad, he felt sorry for his sister and would have preferred to find a solution where he could let Kriemhilt go back to Isenstein without losing his honour. But he couldn’t think of one.

And so the situation in Worms didn’t change until a few days after Gunther’s return an army showed up in front of the city gates and Hagen woke him up at five in the morning to inform him that Brunhilt had come and was now besieging them. “She wants you to let Kriemhilt go and talk to her.”

Groaning Gunther sat up. According to him it was too early in the morning for diplomatic talk but when Brunhilt had brought her entire army with her the situation must be dire. He let his armour and sword be brought and put both on before he went out on the castle walls. You could never know with Brunhilt.

And really, the queen of Isenstein was very direct when it came to the matter of her coming. She was already waiting impatiently for him in front of the barricaded castle gate. As soon as she had spotted Gunther up on the wall she shouted at him: “You have abducted my wife! Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?”

“No, I took back my sister after you abducted her!” Gunter retorted angrily.

“But did you even ask her if she wanted to be taken back?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes!” Brunhilt stared at him. No, she really wasn’t surprised that Kriemhilt had wanted to leave this place. “She was happy with me on Isenstein!” Determinedly she drew her sword. “I thereby challenge you to a duel, Gunther, and this time you will not get away with it that easily.”

“Oh yes?” He too drew his sword. “We will see about this!”

He didn’t care that Hagen had warned him from this fight the last time already. Ignoring the warnings of his councillors he made his way down into the courtyard. He also didn’t care about Brunhilt’s unpierceable armour and her magical sword from the underworld. He was angry with her. Was it not enough for her to embarrass him once?

As soon as the gate had opened he was already charging at Brunhilt. Their blades crossed with such an impact that Gunther nearly lost the grip of his sword. He tightened his hold. Brunhilt really was a stronger opponent than he had expected, despite Hagen’s warnings. The next hit he could parry without problems, but with every attack he lost ground.

So he was almost relieved when eventually he heard a voice calling from behind him: “Stop it! Gunther! Brunhilt! What do you think you’re doing?”

Both froze and lowered their swords. Brunhilt’s face lit up. “Kriemhilt, my love! I come to take you back!”

“And to slay my brother?”

Brunhilt shrugged. “I would have taken you without the duel as well, but your brother – ”

“ _You_ challenged _me_!” Gunther inserted.

“Enough!” Kriemhilt now had come close enough to take her place between the two fighters. Hagen and Siegfried were close behind her. “Do you really think it would help anyone if the two of you start killing each other here and now? Gunther, it wasn’t right of you to just take me away from Isenstein. That’s why I will return there with Brunhilt. And don’t you dare stopping me!” She glared at her brother. “But Brunhilt, you really didn’t have to bring the whole army with you. Don’t you think you’re exaggerating a little, darling?”

Brunhilt looked at her sheepishly. “I just wanted to make sure that I get you back. My army makes a better impression than me on my own.”

“It mainly makes a threatening impression.” Kriemhilt looked at her scoldingly. “I get that you were worried… but next time I think a diplomatic visit will be enough. If there even will be a next time.” Now she looked at Gunther again who had lowered his gaze in shame. “And now that this is settled, I would like to return to my bed again. It’s just about six. Are you coming, Brunhilt?”

And so Kriemhilt made peace between Brunhilt of Isenstein and Gunther of Worms. She returned to Isenstein with her wife and the two of them lived happily together for many years to come.

That was the joy of the Nibelungs.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this, please leave me a comment and/or Kudos :D


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